A Brief History of the Plantronics
Headset
Aviation fuelled the headset industry in its early days.
Plantronics was founded in 1961 by two pilots who wanted
a lighter, more comfortable headset for use in the cockpit.
They created the Plantronics MS50, the world's lightest
headset at the time and this model is still used by
commercial aircraft pilots today!
We've pioneered the way for NASA, Air Traffic Control,
emergency dispatch operators as well as homes and offices.
This article is designed to give you the basics and
a little bit of history on how headsets were developed.
Headset or Headphone?
A common mistake is to confuse these two terms. Headphones
are mainly used for listening to music while headsets
are used for both listening and talking. Both have earpieces,
but only headsets incorporate a microphone, which enable
them to be used with phones, computers, and other special
applications.
Headsets can be used for making phone calls, listening
to music, playing video games, speech recognition technology,
or any number of other uses. A great benefit of headsets
is that they leave your hands free to do other things
while you communicate.
What is the noise level?
Determine your contact centre's noise level so you can
select the appropriate headsets. Investing in features
that you may not need, or compromising on those you
do, can leave you with headsets that aren’t suited to
your particular contact centre environment.
|
|
Noise Level and/or Work Application |
Suggested Model |
Over 75dB
Agent needs both ears covered to concentrate on the
customers voice and block-out surrounding environment
|
Binaural Receiver Noise-Cancelling Microphone E.g. SupraPlus
|
65 - 75dB
Agent needs an open ear to be in tune with surrounding
environment or to confer with a colleague |
Monaural Receiver or Over-the-Ear Style E.g. SupraPlus,
Tristar, DuoPro |
|
under 65dB |
Monaural Receiver or Over-the-Ear Style Noise-Cancelling
or Voice Tube Microphone E.g. SupraPlus, Tristar, DuoPro
|
